Children’s right to a quality education fuels ruling on teacher tenure: Guest commentary

As chair of the California Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Education, I am greatly encouraged by the June 10 ruling of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu. In his decision, Judge Treu found that the teacher tenure system and employment practices in California are both unconstitutional and discriminatory against students in schools serving lower-income communities.

The petitioners in Vergara vs. California were nine students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The students testified that they were deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed right to quality education by a teacher tenure system and employment practices that retained many inadequate teachers and assigned them to less-than-quality schools in economically depressed areas of the district. The fact that Judge Treu found in the students’ favor shines new light on serious educational issues throughout California school districts.

The powerful teachers unions have vowed to appeal the decision of Judge Treu and to allocate considerable resources and political clout to see that his decision is reversed.

One in four students in California’s public schools is from a household that identifies itself as Catholic. Ninety percent of Catholic students in California attend public schools. The Catholic Church in California, both its members and its leadership, has a responsibility toward these students to see that they receive a quality education in public schools as well as in the church’s own parochial and religious schools.

This responsibility extends beyond Catholic students to include all of California’s students. Church teaching requires church members to protect and advance the common good of all society and not to concern themselves solely with their own self-interest. All students are our concern, and the quality of their education is among our numerous responsibilities toward society as a whole.

The deficiency of the present tenure and employment system has long been recognized by community leaders. Only 12 states have similar protocols. After only two years of employment, and usually one formal assessment, teachers in California are granted tenure. In the event of teacher layoff, usually politically and economically inspired, and with a practice of “last hired, first fired,” enthusiastic new teachers are dismissed no matter how much better their teaching may be than that of longer-termed instructors who are protected by tenure policies and the powerful teacher unions.

It is important that there be some form of protection for long-term teachers of proven worth. Better than an automatic tenure policy or an over-reliance on student test scores would be a practice of rigorous teacher assessment, focusing primarily on classroom instruction and the ability of teachers to inspire and direct student learning. Better, too, would be a focus on rewarding quality and creative instruction with higher salaries, rather than on an automatic system guaranteeing teacher job security. In a just and equitable system focused on student learning, quality teachers would not be in danger of loss of position.

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In recent months, the general population is gradually becoming aware that teacher tenure practices protect not only quality teachers, but also deficient teachers and even teachers who have been known to be abusive toward students in a variety of ways. Poor teachers are often relegated to disadvantaged schools where they, in turn, contribute to the poor quality of the education provided. Protected by tenure and privacy protections monitored by teacher unions, questionable teachers are easily transferred to less desirable schools, and even administrators are not made aware of the teacher’s past history.

As Judge Treu’s decision sadly brings to light, the powerful teacher unions that advocate for retaining the present tenure and teacher employment practices are devoted above all to protecting teachers and their jobs and to making sure that the funding provided by the citizenry of the state remains in the hands of public instruction. What is lost in the process is the guarantee of quality instruction for all California students.

Bishop Edward Clark is the auxiliary bishop of the Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, one of the five pastoral regions in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Ordained a priest in 1972, he has been serving the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for over 42 years. He chairs the education committees of the California Conference of Catholic Bishops and the California Catholic Conference.